Mansfield Speedway
Amid shifting venues, Lucas plots Ohio future
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Rick Schwallie (heathlawsonphotos.com)
The 11th-hour move of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series to Mansfield (Ohio) Speedway from Atomic Speedway for Friday’s series event wasn't about severing ties with Atomic and its owner Charlie Vest.
Even after hearing concerns about the track during the offseason amid several reports of legal challenges by creditors, the national tour remained committed to one of its longtime Ohio stops, requiring only that Atomic fund the event purse in advance — a safeguard the Chillicothe-area facility met before March's Buckeye Spring 50 but couldn't satisfy ahead of Friday's event.
In Monday’s press release announcing the event's relocation, Atomic said the 3/8-mile oval is "working through its current situation and transition," prompting the series to seek an alternative venue.
"We were all in with Atomic until we weren't. So Atomic in the spring, we had heard of some of their troubles in the offseason, so in the spring we asked them to put the purse up front in advance — and they did," Schwallie told DirtonDirt before Saturday's Freedom 50 at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio. "So I was never done any wrong, I don't feel like, in any ways from Charlie. So, in all reality, we had no reason to raise a flag or caution other than we just hadn't received a purse up front.
"That's not unheard of for us to ask for a purse up front for a race. More and more often, we're paying the payoff to the teams every night on a regular basis and the racetrack cuts us a check. Usually that check is posted in front of an event."
Vest echoed that sentiment during a Facebook Live last week, saying the decision to relinquish the Lucas Oil date was made to preserve the remainder of Atomic's season as the speedway works through its current financial challenges rather than jeopardize the facility's future.
"Everybody says, 'We're over, we're done.' We're not done," Vest said. "This decision was so we can move forward — and we can race the rest of our season. … We were going to have to outlay over $100,000 going into Friday. After talking with Rick Schwallie in extended conversations about where we are and what we're doing, we're sustaining. We're holding on."
As it became increasingly likely Atomic wouldn't be able to host the event, Schwallie began eagerly exploring alternatives. Besides Mansfield, West Virginia track’s Elkins Speedway and West Virginia Motor Speedway along with Skyline Speedway in Stewart, Ohio, were considered as potential replacements.
Expanding Muskingum's weekend into a Friday-Saturday doubleheader — like the event had been contested in 2022 and '23 — also was on the table with promoter Tristin Moran. The series was also prepared to reduce the winner's share to $15,000 from $25,000 to make another venue feasible on short notice.
"We had talked to Mike Hurley (owner of Elkins and WVMS). We talked to (West Virginia promoter) Carl Short. We talked to Jeff Burdette at Skyline. … We even had talked with the Morans, too, about just doing a doubleheader (at Muskingum)," Schwallie said. "All those options, we thought we'd reduce the purse to like a $15,000-to-win, just make it a reality."
Mansfield, however, quickly emerged as Schwallie's preferred contingency plan, especially after the photos he saw of the speedway's racing surface following June 27’s 410 sprint car program.
Having watched the facility's progress since it hosted the World of Outlaws Late Model Series on May 29-30 — a weekend affected by rough and dusty track conditions but one that also showcased the speedway's potential after Rocket Chassis co-owner Mark Richards helped rework the racing surface overnight and praised the facility's upside — Schwallie believed the 4/10-mile oval was ready if Atomic fell through.
"I've seen some pictures of the racetrack that they had with the 410 sprints last week," Schwallie said. "Obviously, we were maybe in a bit of a scramble mode. I just wanted to have a solid Plan B in place last weekend."
In fact, the Matt Tifft-owned Mansfield oval was effectively secured before Schwallie's final conversation Monday with Vest.
"Sunday night, Mansfield was committed," Schwallie said. "I had a conversation with Matt on Sunday night for probably an hour and knew that I had that in my hip pocket if Monday didn't work out."
Schwallie said he and Vest maintained an open dialogue, and once it became clear Atomic couldn't move forward, the two worked together on an alternative. Vest later thanked Tifft for "ensuring the success of the event" by handing it off to him and his team.
"We thought the least path of resistance was just to continue with Atomic," Schwallie said. "Then I just had a man-to-man conversation with Charlie on Monday. We've been respectful with one another the whole time we've worked together. This isn't our first year we've worked together. And it wasn't going to work, and he bowed down and let us work on an alternative."
Although Friday's Mansfield program was washed out by a torrential thunderstorm during the third heat race, Schwallie considered the communication between his team and Tifft’s team at Mansfield a success. He said the series and Tifft have already reached what he described as a "generic gentleman's agreement" to return next season.
"When we walked away from the event, it being rained out and we're soaking wet, we said, 'Hey, I hope this went well for you. It went well for us and we'll do it again,' " Schwallie said.
Already looking beyond last week's venue change, the Lucas Oil Series is eyeing a larger Ohio holiday swing in 2027 — one that could include Mansfield, Muskingum County Speedway with Atomic and other venues among possibilities.
Schwallie hopes the Lucas Oil Series can expand its Independence Day swing into a tripleheader Ohio weekend, whether that's Thursday through Saturday or Friday through Sunday. Muskingum has become a fixture on the tour's Fourth of July weekend, appearing every season since Lucas Oil's first full-fledged national campaign in 2005.
"On a weekend like this, you'd like to race at least twice, and sometimes three times," Schwallie said. "You hate to load up on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Friday, Saturday, Sunday the whole month or consecutively week after week after week. I believe that gets exhausting on the teams. But when you have weather situations, it's a lot more feasible for the teams. Hopefully you can get two of the three in. So we'd still be interested in three races that weekend. It's just a matter of whatever the right fit is."
A three-race Fourth of July swing wouldn't be unprecedented. The Lucas Oil Series most recently contested a three-race Fourth of July swing in 2022 when it visited Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park before Muskingum's two-day program. It also did so in 2018 with stops at Mansfield, Sharon Speedway and Muskingum.
Among other tracks receiving Independence Day week dates on the Lucas Oil circuit over the years: Beckley (W.Va.) Motor Speedway in 2010, Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, Pa., in 2014, 201 Speedway in Sitka, Ky., in 2014 and Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., in 2019.
Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., even hosted a series race the night after Muskingum’s Independence Day weekend once in 2009 — a Tennessee-to-Ohio overnight trip unlikely now.
Schwallie plans to keep his options open throughout the Mid-Ohio and Ohio Valley regions, even leaving the door open for Atomic to return to the schedule next July — and potentially next March as well.
"That fit can even be Atomic again," Schwallie said. "I think not all is lost. Charlie's done his very best to keep it open as a racetrack, and in today's world climate, that's hard to do. So we'll figure it out — then move forward."
